SHARE THE WARMTH: Help around the house for home repair

Don’t we all appreciate a little help around the house? Share the Warmth brings new meaning to this concept. United Way’s Share the Warmth initiative helps to ease strain on a family housing budget by providing assistance with home repair and converting drafty, inefficient dwellings into warm, energy-conserving money savers.

Patsy was laid off from her job back in June of this year. She has been trying to find work since she found out her job was being eliminated, but she has a few things working against her. “It’s hard to find a job when you are starting at age 60 and even harder when you didn’t finish high school.” Pasty sounded very discouraged but she perked up a bit when we started talking about Good Works.

“I am on a fixed income and I can’t find work right now. They have been helping me in lots of ways. In fact they were just here Saturday to help with my basement. It’s nice when they come. I try and make the volunteers feel welcome and appreciated.”

Good Works sealed the cement walls in Patsy’s basement and fixed her roof. They installed new windows and are coming back to do some interior painting on damaged walls.

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I asked Patsy how the assistance she has received from Good Works has impacted her life. “Well my house is warm and it’s safe. I don’t have to stress about my roof collapsing or my basement flooding. Believe me that helps when I have so much else going on and I am trying hard to find work. My granddaughter is staying with me for a little while. It’s nice for her to be warm when she is here.”

Individuals that receive help through Share the Warmth are not getting fancy furniture or brand new window treatments. They are receiving the most basic of needs that anyone must have in order to feel secure in their own home. If you don’t feel safe, if you are not warm, if you can hear the wind through your windows at night, chances are you are under some serious stress.

Thanks to the discounted materials, the volunteer labor, and the efficient operations at Good Works, Patsy can focus on getting her life back in order.

Last year Good Works changed the lives of 22 families for less than $24,000 through their share of Share the Warmth funding. Still many others received assistance beyond the funds allocated from United Way. There are individuals like Patsy in every one of the 33 municipalities that Good Works serves, and too often they don’t know where to turn for help.

I asked Patsy how she found out about Good Works and when she thought about contacting them. “I read the newspaper last year around this time. I remembered the agencies that help people and decided to see if it was people like me.”

Contributions to the Share the Warmth program can be addressed to: Share the Warmth, c/o Daily Local News, 250 N. Bradford Avenue, West Chester, PA 19382. Attention: Andy Hachadorian, Editor.